Prelude for piano in C sharp minor (for left hand alone), Op. 91

1894

When Scriabin was in his teens, he suffered an injury to his right shoulder. He probably didn't incur any lasting substantial handicap from the misfortune, but some have surmised that the Op. 9 pieces and [bad word] #39;s subsequent tendency in some piano works to focus less on the role of the right hand might have been related to the injury. Whatever accounted for Scriabin's decision to write this piece for the left hand alone is still a matter for conjecture, but the Prelude's artistic worth generates no controversy. While it exhibits the influence of Chopin -- hardly a surprising quality in early Scriabin -- it is thematically attractive and so well-crafted in its writing that the listener will hardly notice the idleness of the other hand. Chopin's voice can be heard in the forlorn beauty of the main theme, a short-breathed creation that dominates the entire three-minute length of the piece in one guise or another. The mood is sad and gentle at the outset, but soon turns angry and intense, only to yield back to the quieter bereavement of the opening. last [bad word] to rise up again precedes the hushed, gloomy ending.

Piers Lane